Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Making it through....

We have had a house full of company and made it through graduation, rehearsal and dinner, brunch and the beautiful wedding. What a wonderful Christian young couple so full of joy.

Her words to me Friday night as I was leaving: "Grandma, now be tough. You are a strong woman and I know you can do this." LOL She is so precious. I have gone back and forth with all of the blessings of all of the things we have prayed for her through her life coming to fruition and then I go to "I am not going to see her as much." Then I immediately am reminded and thank God for all of the ways He has blessed her (and the rest of the family) I did that back and forth thing several times but in the end this was one happy set of grandparents seeing what a good job our daughter and her husband have done raising their children.

I am so very tired. I slept until 3:30 p.m. yesterday, went back to bed about 9:30 and up this a.m. about 7:00 and went to sleep this afternoon. This low iron thing has me really dragging.

We have a quiet home at the moment. The FL kids and our other grand here have gone skiing and it is supposed to start snowing here in a couple of days. Of course, they can't ski here but the whole idea of the trip to the mountains was so the kids could see and play in snow after 7 years of not seeing any.

Everyone will be back Wed. for Christmas plus a Mother-in-law so we will fill back up until the 28th.

I am swigging that molasses and downing those iron pills. The dr. wants to do an infusion this week. Has anyone had one?

Thanks for listening to our week which has been wonderful.

I love having a second grandson.

Blessings.
Possi

Hi Possi,
Im glad you have had such a lovely time Im not surprised your so tired being so busy and low on iron. Please try and rest before they all return. You must take care of yourself.
Kevin

Hi Possi,

My wife took iron shots for a few years... even with supplementing and all the eating, it was never enough with her fibroids. Thankfully after Mateo was born the fibroids shrunk and she does not require the shots any longer. The iron shots helped immensely, but she never looked forward to them.

Best to you this Christmas season

Tim

Glad your family got to come down and i sure bet your enjoying them.Sending you a very Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year. I'm sure waiting on that snow.

Possi - had a friend who did iron infusions. Got her up and running much quicker than popping pills. I'd say Go For It! And get yourself feeling better!

Hugs
Jewelz

Hi Joyce - Yep, infusions do work. My cousin has had to have several just recently. She was real low on iron - docs thought she must have a huge bleeding ulcer! Anyways, not. But they put her on infusions and worked a treat. She's come through her hip replacement in good strong order, and doing fantastically well. Join jewelz, go for it...

Sounds like a wonderful family gathering for a blessed event. More power to you gal. Don't overdo, rest up some. OK?

Love and (((HUGS))) me dear -

Molly C (France)
(snow in the UK marooned me in France for the nonce, but about to make second attempt...or haul out the sled dogs or hook a lift with the reindeer? )

earlier this month i had my research students over for dinner. cleaned and decorated and cooked for the few days before. woke on the day they were to come so so sore thought for sure i had just run a marathon, but once they were here and i could sit, i was so glad i did it. and then the next few days i recuperated. didn't expect to get to that point in my life so soon where i'd have to recuperate from company, but its so worth it, isn't it!

Possi, I just don't know how you do it. I know when I have family over - it's makes all the preparation well worth it. I never had a iron infusion, but had to have a iron build up when I was 20, and told never to give blood again. I am sure when you have the infusion you will be feel a whole lot better, and expect you to run marathons. Okay maybe not a marathon, but back here on KickAS saying how well you feel.

HUGS and much love
Gerri

Joyce, as wrung out as you are, it sounds like you've had a wonderful week with your family! I'm so glad. Please, you and Floyd be kind to yourselves over the next couple of days, OK?

Love and hugs,

Hi Possi,

Glad to hear everything went so well and that you are so happy with the way your children and grandchildren have turned out. With a mother and grandmother like you leading the way, I don't think things could have ever turned out any differently!

While I know you would prefer to not be sleeping so much, I am very glad to hear you are getting the extra rest at a time when you really need it. Trying to push through an iron deficiency like that is hard during day-to-day chores, let alone during the holidays when you've got a houseful of family members (with a wedding thrown in just for a little extra stress!)

(After I typed out the following few paragraphs, I realized you said "infusion" and not "transfusion." More than likely, everything in the next few graphs is of no use to you at all, but I figured I'd leave it up there just in case!)

As for transfusions, yes, I've had several. During each, I received 2 pints of blood, and all went well. Now, only one of these came at a time when I wasn't immediately facing surgery the day after the transfusion. However, I can report that on that one occasion when I just had one independent of any surgical procedure, I absolutely did notice an energy boost from that good, fresh blood. That one time came when I apparently had a small GI bleed that dropped my hemoglobin down below 6. I didn't realize until I became faint and dizzy when walking even one block that something was wrong, even though I had experienced a textbook-perfect case of vomiting up old blood a couple weeks before I was hospitalized but hadn't realized what was happening. It was only when I was told what to look for in such a situation that I put two and two together and realized that, yep, I absolutely had experienced a GI bleed, and it was a minor miracle that nothing worse had happened.

By the time I did go into the hospital with that low hemoglobin level, a nice little nasal/gastric tube revealed that all of the bleeding had stopped. Still, with my hemoglobin so low (at that time, it was usually in the 8's or 9's), my doc thought that a transfusion was best, and after it was over and I felt so much more energetic, I had to agree with him.

I think I've had four, maybe five, infusions since then, each delivered a day or two before one of my big surgeries. Each did what it was supposed to do--raise my hemoglobin to a more acceptable level before I would be experiencing blood loss--I can't say that I remember any energy boost from them, for obvious reasons. Let's just say that once I ended up with a hip replaced or a bowel perforation fixed, I wasn't going to feel all energetic no matter what they gave me, so that particular benefit of the transfusions was definitely lost on me!

Here's hoping your transfusion goes well if you do move forward with that. I think you will experience real benefits from having one, so hopefully that will be one part of the treatment plan for this low iron problem.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your family Joyce! Getting to know you better this year has been one of my real Christmas blessings, that's for sure.

Brad